Surge of Afghans repatriating

The number of Afghans returning from Pakistan has increased considerably over the past week following the announcement of an increased assistance package for each returnee by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

In an effort to facilitate Afghan returnees' reintegration, UNHCR recently increased its assistance package three-fold from US $30 to $100 for each Afghan returning to Afghanistan.

This monetary increase has been well advertised among Afghan communities living in Pakistan by way of pamphlets, newspapers, radio and TV advertisements. This has resulted in more Afghans coming to UNHCR repatriation assistance centres in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan province where most Afghan exiles live.

In the first week of this year’s voluntary repatriation drive, which started on 1 March, only 274 Afghans returned. But they were followed by more than 1,000 in the second week and nearly 12,000 in the third week. More than 25,000 have returned so far this week, according to UNHCR.

"We are processing more than 700 [Afghan] families or around 5,000 individuals daily from two repatriation centres," Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman in Islamabad, said on Wednesday.

More than 38,000 Afghans have repatriated since 1 March, with 90 percent of the returnees coming from NWFP – which is home to nearly 1.5 million Afghan refugees.

According to UNHCR officials, a combination of reasons has contributed to the recent increase.

"The attraction of the enhanced return package, unregistered Afghans realising that the grace period is half over, and quite possibly the warmer weather inside Afghanistan could be the pull factors," Tan said.

Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees, fleeing conflict in Afghanistan, for more than a quarter of a century.

In an effort to ascertain the number and profile of the exiled Afghan population, Pakistani authorities carried out a four-month countrywide campaign from October 2006 to February 2007.

More than 2.1 million Afghans were registered during the campaign and were issued with ‘Proof of Registration’ cards valid for a three-year period.

Afghans who failed to register have been given a grace period until 15 April to do so.From 16 April, those who have still not registered will not avail UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation assistance package

To date, about 400,000 Afghans have not registered with the Pakistani authorities, according to Afghan embassy officials in Islamabad.

More than 2.8 million Afghans have voluntarily returned from Pakistan since 2002 under UNHCR's voluntary return assistance programme.

ts/at/ar/ed